The International Criminal Court is considering trying top LRA commanders in Uganda once they are arrested. Maria Mabinty Kamara, the ICC Outreach Coordinator says that the Rome Statute that stipulates the operation of the court provides that trials can be conducted in the countries where the suspects originate.
She says that Uganda and Kenya have applied to have the trials of suspects from both countries tried locally. She said the court would assess the capacity of Uganda to host the trial before accepting their application. Maria however says that Kenya has lost the opportunity to host the trial of the six suspects accused of their involvement in the post election violence because of hate speech against the court.
The plan to conduct the trail in Uganda once the four indicted top LRA rebel commanders are arrested has been welcomed with excitement by several people. Jolly Akwero, a resident of Gulu municipality says that the localized trial would provide a soothing effect due to the opportunity to take part in the prosecution of the suspects.
Akwero who lost two of her children to the rebel atrocities explained that it is difficult to feel justice has been done when the trials are conducted several miles away from the victims. The decision by ICC to try suspects in the area where they committed the crimes would follow a similar pattern by the Uganda’s International Crimes Division of the High Court to move the trial of war crimes suspect, Thomas Kwoyelo to Gulu, the central location of the LRA war where most of the crimes were committed. Presently, none of the suspects before the court is being tried in their home countries.
